Dictation slide actuated desk drawer lock



April 10, 1962 .1. H. SCHUETTE 3,

DICTATION SLIDE ACTUATED DESK DRAWER LOCK Filed Nov. 1?, 195a INVENTO'RQ LV/V 54 18/1/07:

United States Patent 3,029,118 DICTATION SLIDE ACTUATED DESK DRAWER LOCK John H. Sehuette, Manitowoc, Wis., assignor to Invincihle Metal Furniture Company, Manitowoc, Wis, a corporation of Wisconsin Filed Nov. 17, 1958, Ser. No. 774,229 3 Claims. (Cl. 312-221) This invention relates to locking mechanisms for desks with side pedestals containing drawers'to be locked and without a center desk drawer.

Desks are usually provided with at least one pedestal compartment with drawers therein and a dictation slide over the set of drawers. Locking of the drawers is usually accomplished by mechanism actuated by the center drawer between two pedestals and extending over the knee space in the desk, the center drawer itself usually being provided with a lock. However, in many instances it is desirable to have desks without a center drawer while retaining the possibility of locking all of the draw ers in one pedestal or in both pedestals by the use of a single lock. Accordingly, the present construction provides means whereby a dictation slide is utilized to carry the lock and other mechanism co-acting with mechanism fixed in the pedestal or pedestals to lock the set or sets of pedestal drawers.

In the present invention, the slide carries a lock which oscillates a locking bar into and out of engagement with a hook fixed inside a desk pedestal. The hook forms part of a bracket in which a bar is slidable under spring bias tending to move the bar into one of its extreme positions. The bar carries a number of latch hooks equal to the number of drawers to be locked and each latch is spring biased toward drawer engaging position, the latches rotating as they slide over the ends of the drawer and being severally engaged with an end of a drawer when the drawer is closed and provided the latch carrier bar is in its other extreme position. The latch carrier bar is actuated by an operating rod with a crank arm engageable by a striker on the dictation slide so that movement of the slide into locking position oscillates the rod and slides the latch carrier bar into the position at which the latches are engageable with their several drawers as soon as a drawer is closed. Hence, pushing the slide and drawer into the pedestal automatically latches the drawers and drawing the slide out of the pedestal automatically unlatches the drawers. When the drawers are all latched, the slide lock may be actuated and once the drawers have been unlatched, they remain unlatched until the slide is again pushed to locking position.

In the drawings,

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of the desk with the desk top and one pedestal slide removed and the other pedestal Slide drawn forward;

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of one pedestal slide with a lock and other mechanism partially enclosed therein and shown in dotted line and shows a striker attached to such slide; and

FIG. 3 is a perspective view on an enlarged scale of the drawer latching means with parts thereof in dotted line and in full line to show the two extreme positions assumed by such parts.

Numerals 5 and 6 generally designate two spaced pedestals of a desk joined by a member 7 and defining a knee hole space for the desk. Each pedestal is provided with a set of three drawers 8, 9 and 1! although it will be understood that the number of drawers per set is not relevant to the present invention. Sets of drawers terminate short of the rear end of their respective pedestals to provide space for receiving a portion of the drawer locking mechanism. Each pedestal with drawers to be locked, is provided with a dictation slide as shown at 14 and 15. The desk shown is sheet steel and the slides have a peripheral depending flan e 16 providing space within the confines of the slide to house some of the locking mechanism.

One dictation slide is formed with a flanged channel 17 fixed on its under side and extending rearwardly from adjacent the forward end of the slide flange 16 to receive a lock 18 set into the slide flange and a rod 19 to be actuated by the lock. A portion of the slide is punched downwardly to provide a tab 20 which is slotted for passage of the rod 19 therethrough to hold the rod in alignment with the lock while permitting free rotational movement of the rod. The rod 1? is turned laterally at its end 21 for engagement with the drawer locking mechanism. A striker 22 is attached to the end of the slide to co-act with the drawer locking mechanism to bring the drawer latches into operative position.

The drawer locking mechanism comprises a stationary bracket 26 fixed on the desk pedestal frame or panel 27 and the bracket receives a channel bar 28 which is guided by the bracket as the bar moves vertically. The channel bar 28 is urged toward raised and unlatching position by helical spring 29 when the slide 15 i drawn forward and raises latches 3i thereon out of engagement with the rear ends of the drawers, each latch being under rotational bias or a torsion spring 31 to allow the latch to swing as it rises over the drawer end and urging the latch into engagement with the drawer end.

Forward of the aperture in the bracket 26 through which the latch carrier bar 28 extends, the bracket is provided with ears 35 slotted to receive an operating rod 36 with its one end 37 bent to engage in a hole in the bar 28. The other end of rod 36 is bent to form a crank arm 38 extending into the path of striker 22 on the slide 15. If both sets of drawers 8-10 are to be locked, the crank arm 38 is joined by a sleeve 39 to a crank arm 40 of a rod 41 which passes through the inside panels 42 of pedestals 5 and 6 which support both rods. Combined rod cranks 38, 40 are at one side of bracket 26 in the path of the striker 22 so that the rods turn clockwise to dotted line position as the slide is pushed to the position at which the locking rod end 21 may be engaged. Turning of the rod 36 (and the rod 41) causes their respective latch carrier bars 28 to move downwardly for engaging the latches with the drawers then in closed position. The end 21 of the locking bar is engageable with a hook portion of the bracket 26, such hook being shown as comprising an upturned flange 47 on the bracket and a hook 48 seated on and fixed to such flange but the bracket and hook may be formed as one piece. Hook 48 extends between locking bar 21 and striker 22 when the slide 15 is in locking position and the hook is engaged by the end 21 of the locking rod when the lock and rod are turned. Thus, the locking rod end 21 is in full line position shown in FIG. 3 when the slide 15 is unlocked and is in dotted line position when the slide is locked.

It will be seen that pushing the slide 15 into the desk pedestal automatically causes engagement of latches 30 with those of the drawers of both pedestals which are then in closed position and any unclosed drawer is latched when it is pushed into closed position. Locking of both sets of drawers requires only that the lock and locking rod be turned to engage the rod end 21 with the hook end 48 of the bracket. When the locking rod end .21 is released from the bracket hook end 48 and the slide is pulled forward slightly, the latches are automatically released by lifting of their carrier bars 28 by spring 29 so that any or all of the drawers may be opened.

I claim:

1. The combination with a desk having a pedestal with a series of vertically aligned pull-out drawers, vertically shiftablc drawer latching mechanism at the rear of the pedestal and comprising means to latch the drawers when it is in lowermost position and to unlatch the drawers when it is in uppermost position, of a slide vertically aligned above the level of said drawers, means responsive to the position of the slide to raise the said latching mechanism when the slide is pulled forwardly and to lower the latching mechanism when the slide is pushed inwardly, a lock at the front edge of the slide, a lock actuated rod extending from the front edge to the rear edge of the slide, and rod engaged keeper means at the rear of the pedestal to releasab'ly hold the slide in its rearmost position when the lock is engaged, said keeper means comprising a fixed bracket having a laterally open socket, said rod having a hook at its rear end which aligns laterally with the socket when the slide is in its rear-most position, said rod being rotatable on its longitudinal axis to turn the hook into the socket on actuation of the lock.

2. The device of claim 1 in which said fixed bracket further comprises a guide on which the drawer latching mechanism is vertically shiftable.

3. The device of claim 2 in which said vertically shiftable drawer latching mechanism is provided with a bell crank actuator, journal means on said fixed bracket on which said bell crank turns, said slide being provided with a striker aligned to engage the bell crank in its rearmost position to shift the latching mechanism to its lowermost position.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,280,183 Donathan Oct. 1, 1918 1,700,299 Wolters Jan. 29, 1929 1,841,220 Sturm Jan. 12, 1932 2,596,185 Swimmer May 13, 1952 2,804,364 Belew Aug. 27, 1957 2,827,353 Johnson Mar. 18, 1958 2,882,112 Jarvi Apr. 14, 1959 

